An eight-floor hotel abutting the St Julian’s Urban Conservation Area had to be downscaled to a five-storey guesthouse and had a 19th-century building integrated into the project before it could get the approval of the Planning Authority.
The development will see the demolition of a number of buildings on Triq is-Sorijiet and stands approximately 60 metres away from a cluster of Grade 2 dwellings and just 13 metres away from protected air raid shelters.
The planning watchdog noted the strong objections from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, which insisted that the 19th-century house earmarked for demolition together with adjacent properties, including a garage and a cellar, ought to be protected.
The culture watchdog had already expressed its views in a previous application covering the same site for the part demolition of some of the structures and the development of five floors of residential units. This application had been approved in 2017.
Together with the Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee (CHAC), the superintendence had concluded that most properties within the block did not have such value as to merit preservation. However, the 19th-century house overlooking Triq il-Qalb Imqaddsa had historical and architectural value that warranted its preservation and integration into any proposed development.
As a result, the townhouse was integrated into the proposed development and will now be restored and converted into part of the guesthouse.
The developer, Mark Camilleri, integrated the townhouse into the plan. The building consists of two ground floor lateral rooms, entrance hall and piano nobile. Some of the rooms boast traditional building techniques such as barrel vaults, wooden beams, old ceiling slabs and the original spiral staircase.
Objectors, including Din l-Art Ħelwa, Futur Ambjent Wieħed and the local council strongly argued against such a massive development over eight floors, especially due to the vicinity of Casa Leone, a property of architectural and historical value, currently a home for the elderly. The noise brought about by a large-scale hotel was another argument put forward to the planning commission. This led to the reduction of three floors and the downgrade from a hotel to a guesthouse. Ancillary services on site, such as a restaurant, was also removed from the proposal to better integrate with the surroundings, which is a residential area.